China’s demand for oil causes worries

China’s demand for oil is raising concerns around the globe, according to a report by Dallas Morning News:

Today there are 10 million cars on China’s streets and freeways. In 15 years, there will be 120 million.

China’s oil consumption hit 5.8 million barrels a day last year. China moved up to second rank among oil consumers behind only the oil-thirsty United States, at 20 million barrels a day.

China imports 2.75 million barrels a day (modest by U.S. appetites). But with 120 million cars in its future, China’s oil companies are scouring the world to find oil and natural gas deals that aren’t locked up.

In the International Herald Tribune, James Brooke writes that an undersea boundary dispute between China and Japan is brewing over oil reserves off Japan’s coast, while the Japan Times argues that the existence of such oil reserves has not yet been proven.